london times: chavez may not let baseball players out of venezuala

that's what this article seems to be implying. but it does a such a poor job that i can't tell if this is just pure speculation or something that the london times is ahead of the curve on.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2470616,00.html

 

Interesting. Sounds like Cuba all over again. I wonder how long it will be before Venezulans will start defecting to the U.S to play after Chavez cracks down?

 

this is very interesting and i'd love to see the Chicago papers get a reaction from Ozzie and some players.

i'm wondering: would the MLB teams have to chopper it out of there (I'm thinking Godfather style) at the stroke of midnight, or would they basically be forced to pay Chavez to keep the acadamies and the players that go through them??

And as for the boats - that would be tragic. Where would they go? Haiti? Cuba? all the way around? Try and go through Mexico?

 

Ozzie just offered his comments:

"Fuck him! That fucking faggot!"

 

If Crazy Hugo doesn't let players out of Venezuela I'd guess the MLB teams would just close the academies and go home.

 

Even if Chavez has ambitions of being a dictator like Castro (as opposed to being a more typical type of dictator), it is a different situation than Cuba.

For one thing, there are elections in Venezuela. Maybe not what we could consider totally free elections, but there are opposing minority parties in the legislative body. Castro has never had an election in the 50 years he has ran Cuba. Chavez does have to get elected.

Another thing is that Venezuela is not an island. There are borders which are guarded by border guards, and border guards can be enticed (let me whisper... bribed) to get people out over several bordering nations.

Also, Chavez would lose standing with other baseball-loving nations if he tried this.

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but Venezuela is not Cuba. It is a different situation.

... and another thing... Bobby Abreu is a member of the New York Yankees. Foreign government might tweak the US State Department, but messing with the New York Yankees is an entirely different matter.

 

Especially since Steinbrenner acquired the bomb from Israel for a minor league pitcher to be named later.

 

Building on what Gold said, the geography makes entrapping these guys a tad more difficult.

Though it would be kinda cool to see the next big thing come to America with a pith helmet and a machete.

 

Chavez is stupid for saying that, if he in fact did. The ones who live in Venezuela pay Venezuelan taxes and buy Venezuelan groceries with all those American millions. Plus every one of those players is an ambassador for his country.

I'd be on the first plane out of Caracas if I were Johan Santana or Carlos Guillen or Marco Scutaro (yes, I had no idea he was Venezuelan, either.)

 

I thought he acquired The Bomb from the Rangers and it plays third base.

 

The Yanks got WMD from the Rangers, not the bomb.